Speakers

PhD, is Full Professor of Marketing in the Faculty of Tourism and Vice Rector for Academic Affairs at Eastern Mediterranean University. He is also Visiting Research Professor in the Faculty of Finance and Management in Wrocław at WSB Merito University in Poland and Eminent Scholar in the Department of Global Business, School of Global Eminence at Kyung Hee University in the Republic of Korea. He obtained his PhD degree in business administration from Hacettepe University in Türkiye. Dr Karatepe’s research interests are in the areas of services marketing and management, internal marketing, green management and marketing, and strategic management. He is the Managing Editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights and the Regional Editor for the Middle East and Africa of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. Dr. Karatepe, who has an h-index of 90 according to the Google Scholar citations database, has authored or co-authored over 200 articles in various journals, including Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Information Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Cleaner Production, Tourism Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, and International Journal of Service Industry Management (currently known as Journal of Service Management). His recent book, co-authored with Rozkwitalska-Welenc, M., Borzyszkowski, J., Basinska, B. A., Okumus, F. and entitled “Organizational Resilience in Hospitality and Tourism”, was published by Routledge in 2024. He guest edited a special issue with Shi, F. and Okumus, F. on Creativity in the Competitive Service Environment in The Service Industries Journal in 2022.

Dr Karatepe sits on the editorial boards of top-tier journals such as International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, Spanish Journal of Marketing, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, and The Service Industries Journal. Dr. Karatepe is frequently shown as one of the most prolific researchers in the field of hospitality management. He has appeared within 2% of the list of the world’s most influential scientists in all career-long and single year databases in the last five consecutive years (2020-2024). Dr Karatepe has 32 years of teaching experience gained at different universities such as Bilkent University, Baskent University, Atilim University, Eastern Mediterranean University, and National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism. His recent courses taught at the undergraduate, master, and doctoral levels are Marketing, Foodservice Marketing, Customer Service Skills, Marketing Management, Strategic Management, Internal Green Marketing, and Quantitative Research Methods. He has supervised 26 master students and 7 doctoral students so far.

Prof. CIHAN COBANOGLU
Editor-in-Chief, JHTT and JGBI

Dean & McKibbon Endowed Chair Professor of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (SHTM) in the Muma College of Business at the University of South Florida (USF), who also serves as the Director of the M3 Center for Hospitality Technology and Innovation. He is a renowned hospitality and tourism technology expert. Dr. Cobanoglu is a Fulbright Specialist commissioned by the Fulbright Commission which is part of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and World Learning (2018-2021). He is a Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) commissioned by Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals (HFTP) and Educational Institute of American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA).

He is the Editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology (JHTT)(SSCI IF=6.4), editor of Journal of Global Business Insights (JGBI), and a co-author of six books and ten conference proceedings. He is also currently serving as the President of Association of North America Higher Education International (ANAHEI). Dr. Cobanoglu served as the chair of the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s (AHLA) Technology and E-Business Committee from 2009 to 2011 and also a member of CHTP Advisory Council and Editorial Advisory Board of HFTP.

He received “Excellence in Research-Tenured” award from the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee in 2016 and 2019. He is the recipient of International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education’s Stevenson W. Fletcher Achievement Award in 2020. He has taught courses in six different countries. He has been invited as a keynote speaker to more than 15 conferences. He received 13 best paper awards from International conferences. In 2013, he was named as a “Fellow” by Academy for Global Business Advancement (AGBA).
Prior to joining the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, Dr. Cobanoglu served as an Associate Professor of hospitality information technology at the University of Delaware. Dr. Cobanoglu is the recipient of University of Delaware’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2009 and the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education’s (I-CHRIE) John Wiley & Sons, Innovation in Teaching Award in 2009. He received his undergraduate degree from Cukurova University, Turkey, masters and doctoral degrees from Oklahoma State University, USA.

Prof. Geoffrey Q. P. Shen

Professor Shen graduated from Tsinghua University in China with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Structural Engineering in 1986, received the Sino-British Friendship Scholarship to pursue his PhD studies in the UK in 1988, and earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Salford in 1993. He joined PolyU in 1994 as an assistant professor and was promoted through the ranks to Chair Professor of Construction Management in 2008. He served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment for 13 years since 2007, Head of the Department of Building and Real Estate concurrently from 2008 to 2014, and Interim Vice President (Student Affairs) in 2018.
Professor Shen has a proven track record of accomplishment in construction management with a special interest in sustainable construction. His outstanding academic achievements have been recognised locally and internationally. He has been appointed as a member of the Engineering Panel of the Research Grants Council in Hong Kong since 2017, a member of the editorial boards of several leading journals in construction engineering and management, and has been invited to give keynote presentations at many international conferences. He was appointed as a member of the built environment panel of the Research Assessment Exercise in Hong Kong in 2006, and was the Chairman of the Global Leadership Forum in Construction Engineering and Management Programs between 2014 and 2016. Professor Shen is recognised as one of the world’s “Highly Cited Researchers 2023” by Clarivate Analytics for his significant research impact, as reflected in his publication of multiple papers that have been frequently cited by fellow academics. The list identifies 6,849 the most influential scholars from around the world, determined by the production of multiple highly-cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in the Web of Science citation index over the last 11 years.
Professionally, Professor Shen is Eminent Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Value Management. He was appointed as a member of the Advanced Construction Technologies Sub-committee of the Construction Innovation and Technology Fund between 2018 and 2020. As a certified Value Management Facilitator (List A), he has provided professional services for the design and construction of a number of large and complex construction projects. He received the prestigious Presidential Citation Award from SAVE International (the premier international society in advancing and promoting the Value Methodology) in 2009 for his “energetic and engaging effort to enhance value research and education”.